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(09/12/12 10:29pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freedom of expression is so much more than a middle finger.Director Alison Klayman’s debut documentary “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” poignantly explores the horizon beyond popular gestures of rebellion that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is known for.Ai, China’s Andy Warhol, is introduced first as a conceptual artist and then as a dissident of the Chinese Communist party. Government officials shut down his blog, beat him in a hotel and, finally, detained him for three months in an undisclosed location.For most of the film, Ai and his team maintain a constant news feed on Twitter. Ai is known to international media for both his large-scale art and political activism which, for the most part, are one and the same. Klayman incorporates outside footage and uses source interviews to add depth to an already complete picture of the artist’s legacy. But what lingers, long after the film stops rolling, is one seemingly fearless man’s message to a generation more and more aware of its future limits. By Jaclyn Lansbery
(09/07/12 2:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The middle finger on the cover of “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” has become synonymous with the message sent by Alison Klayman’s debut film. Avant-garde artist Ai, considered China’s Andy Warhol, is an outspoken critic of his country’s government. Thursday afternoon, Klayman discussed her documentary with Stephanie DeBoer, assistant professor for the Department of Communication and Culture at IU Cinema.In December 2008, Klayman began filming Ai when a friend asked her to make a short film about the artist’s photography exhibit. At the time, Klayman was living and working as a freelance journalist in China.The year she began filming, thousands of citizens were killed when an earthquake in Sichuan Province caused school and government buildings with faulty structures to collapse. The government refused to release the names of the child casualties. The lack of government response led Ai to start a citizen’s investigation project of the tragedy. Ai and his team almost published the names of the killed students on his blog, which was eventually shut down.In summer 2009, Ai returned to Sichuan Province to support an activist who had been jailed for supporting Ai’s cause. Local officials found Ai at a hotel where he and his supporters stayed while attending the activist’s trial. The police physically hurt him. About a year and a half later, Ai went to the Chengdu to confront the police about the hotel conflict. Klayman said accompanying Ai on this trip was tense. “The first fear was that I didn’t jeopardize anybody else’s safety, and I didn’t want to jeopardize the purpose of the mission,” Klayman said. “It was for Weiwei to go and accomplish what he wanted to accomplish, and I didn’t want ... to be the element that made things go awry.”Both Klayman and New Yorker correspondent Evan Osnos were asked to step into another room and erase their footage since they didn’t have permission to film the police. Klayman said she gave them an empty tape. At the event Thursday, Klayman said she had the freedom to film Ai during his day-to-day life and overseas trips. “It was really interesting because I felt like just the challenge of the movie was to show his daily life ... if you did it right, you would get the piece of him doing this subversive act,” Klayman said. “But he was accomplishing a lot and getting away with a lot.”Ai’s 81-day detainment strained the wrap-up of what Klayman called her “labor of love.” On the morning of April 3, 2011, Ai planned to leave the country for business. Police seized him at the Beijing Capital International Airport and detained him for three months.The government claimed that Ai’s design company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development, had evaded $2.4 million in taxes, according to a New York Times article. However, Ai’s appeal that the Chinese tax authorities had violated their own procedures by violating his home and detaining him was denied in July. The film will show at 9:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at IU Cinema. The prospects for commercial theaters in China showing the film are grim. Ai still cannot travel outside the country.“Weiwei’s story, and seeing the way the whole world had reacted to the film — who knows what the possibilities are when people start to spread it around in China?” Klayman said.
(09/05/12 4:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s not escapism. It’s not role playing. And it’s not an attempt to create a fantasy world. Simply put, The Brotherhood practices Western martial arts. But for founding member and IU graduate Mike Horsley, also known as William Rayne, The Brotherhood is more. “When you participate, you adapt,” Horsley said.Since 2008, the Bloomington-based group has been known as The Brotherhood, a term signifying camaraderie. Horsley, his brother and his friend formed the group after they noticed a man dressed in medieval garments walking around on the Purdue University campus.Now The Brotherhood has about 23 members, practices weekly and fights in large-scale competitions sponsored by the Society for Creative Anachronism. The society is a nonprofit organization that researches and recreates the arts and skills from pre-17th century Europe. The society consists of 19 kingdoms with more than 30,000 members in countries throughout the world, according to the SCA’s website. The Middle Kingdom includes Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio, as well as parts of Kentucky, Iowa and Canada. Members of the SCA pay a yearly fee, although being a part of The Brotherhood is free.For four years, The Brotherhood has fought in the Pennsic War, which takes place annually toward the end of summer in Slippery Rock, Penn. There, members of The Brotherhood — wearing garments displaying their logo, the grail — fight against the East Kingdom in a battle of more than 1,000 people.Such combats are known as melees.“You’ve got your 20 guys or whatever and you’ve got this whole army with you, but there’s a whole other army that wants nothing more than to hit you until you fall down so that you win,” Horsley said. “And so while the weapons are made of wood, there’s that aspect that if you get hit in an unarmored spot, yeah, that’s going to hurt like hell. Your brain kind of takes over and makes it even more real than it already is.”The Brotherhood uses 9-foot-long spears, polearms — which are 6.5 feet long and feature either an axhead or a long blade — and great or bastard swords in melees. Their helmets are iron. David Samson, also known as Hark-u in The Brotherhood, sews his own soft kit. The soft kit consists of clothes not worn during fights. Samson, a Ph.D. student in biological anthropology, has sewn fur loincloths and stitched them with real sinew and bone to be historically accurate. He is a Ritterbruden, a ranking within The Brotherhood.“There’s a little tension there, not necessarily in The Brotherhood but in the SCA as a whole, because I want to go as primitive as possible,” Samson said. Being a part of The Brotherhood is an intellectual exercise for Samson. After he participated in a couple practices a few years ago, Samson said he was hooked. “The Brotherhood really embraces people who sort of focus on the sort of culture they want to focus on, which is why I gravitate towards them,” Samson said. Sophomore Doug Park, or Mordred Nathair, was promoted to the Ritterbruden ranking while at the Pennsic event in Pennsylvania. When potential members initially express interest in being a part of The Brotherhood, those members are ranked as Neophytes, or “Those Who Seek The Grail,” according to The Brotherhood’s website. After demonstrating a certain amount of skill and dedication to the group, members are promoted to Initiates, or “Newly Joined Warriors, Prospective Candidates for Full Membership.” Paladins, “Our Founders and Leaders,” are considered the highest order and teach fighting strategies and tactics for melee events. There is no specific process for determining full membership. “It’s also very important to the group that you have certain intellectual strengths because we’re appealing to a sort of romanticized ideal of chivalry,” Park said. “It’s important that each member of the group has some artistic or intellectual pursuit that they can devote themselves to.” Other members practice woodworking, blacksmithing or garbing — the process of making the clothes members wear to events. “The skills that we have in addition to the combat skills are often important to furthering our enjoyment of the control, if you will,” Park said.But perhaps what is most rewarding for members, both men and women, is the sense of camaraderie. Park, who moved often when he was younger, said having friends from The Brotherhood is comforting and reassuring. “It’s nice to be a part of a group that likes you for who you are and recognizes the skill you have,” Park said. “It’s nice to be a part of something.” Rankings in the BrotherhoodPaladinsSimilar to managers, coaches or team captains in other sports. Paladins teach the martial arts moves and techniques, as well as strategy, tactics and plays for melee events. Unlike traditional coaches, Paladins are also members of the team and call the plays on the field. RitterbrudenSimilar to varsity team members. Ritterbruden are longer-term Brotherhood members and show a higher-than-average degree of skill and competence.InitiatesSimilar to junior varsity team members. Initiates are newer, but still official, members of the team.NeophyteThe newest members of the team. Neophytes have expressed an interest in joining the team but are in the “trying out” phase.
(08/31/12 5:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The all-women a capella group Ladies First has defined Sally Stempler’s college career. Stempler, the music director for the group, auditioned during her first semester as a freshman at IU and was immediately admitted. Now a senior, Stempler prepares to leave that college experience behind and admit a new set of ladies into the group. Ladies First auditions will be 7:30 p.m. Sept. 4 and 10:30 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Music Annex at the Jacobs School of Music`. Women who audition are expected to sing a capella music with a verse and chorus prepared. Callbacks will be Tuesday, according to the Facebook event. Only two new members will be added to the group after the auditions in time for their fall show on Nov. 9. Stempler said even though six of the 12 Ladies First members will be leaving, it’s difficult to admit six people and teach them the repertoire all at once. After two new girls join this semester, there will be more auditions in spring and fall 2013. With 10 hours of rehearsal each week, being a part of Ladies First is a major commitment, Stempler said. Their policy, though somewhat flexible, requires members to stay in the group throughout the remainder of their college education. “It does get a little daunting if you have too much on your plate,” Stempler said. “But if you’re willing to take the time and really balance it out, it’s completely rewarding.”Other than dedication, Stempler said an ideal Ladies First member would have good musical ability, is a natural leader and is driven yet easygoing. They are always looking for a female bassist because it is hard to find girls who can consistently sing low, Stempler said.Ladies First member Briana Hall, a sophomore majoring in music education, will be music director after Stempler graduates. Hall said musicality is a big factor that determines who she would want in a Ladies First member. “Someone that can read music and someone that has a little bit of theory knowledge, and that would definitely help when we’re looking for people to arrange, too, because we arrange all of our own music,” Hall said. Ladies First, which formed in 1999 and has released four albums since, is self-governed but sponsored by the IU Alumni Association. When it comes to choosing new members, every member has input. Stempler said about 60 girls have previously auditioned for Ladies First.“There are so many great people that come out and audition,” Stempler said. “It’s not hard to really fall in love with a bunch of girls.” IU sophomore Hayley Lipke said she decided to audition for Ladies First after she attended one of their shows in fall 2011. The following spring semester, Lipke auditioned but didn’t get in. Lipke is cutrently a member of the Singing Hoosiers. She said she wants to be a part of Ladies First because it seems like they have a lot of fun. “One thing is that they are an all-girls group,” Lipke said. “Just the purity of all their voices sounds really intense and cool, and I think the dynamics between the girls are a lot more like a family.”
(08/30/12 4:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>From early in the summer of 2011 to last winter, husband and wife Tom and Sharon McCann painted at the Wine and Canvas studio in Bloomington. Tom, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, died of pancreatic cancer this February. His daughter, Kristi McCann, said he enjoyed painting and drawing with his wife.For the third time, Wine and Canvas will raise funds for the 2012 Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Sept. 22 at Bryan Park.From 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Wine and Canvas studio, an instructor will teach participants how to paint, step-by-step, a rendition of the 1966 oil painting “LOVE.” Instead of the word “love,” participants will paint the word “hope” in the spirit of the fundraiser. The event costs $40, and participants will be able to take their work home afterward. Since the price to paint at Wine and Canvas is usually $35, the additional $5 will be donated to the fundraiser. Sarah Wathen, who operates Wine and Canvas with her husband, Joshua Wathen, said Sharon approached her before the first fundraising event in early September 2011. Sharon is the committee chair for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Bloomington. “We just really wanted to be able to help her out,” Sarah said. “I know that Alzheimer’s disease is a horrible disease. I think that probably one of the worst things is to lose your memory, and we just thought (the event) would be a lot of fun.” According to the Alzheimer’s Association website, one in eight older Americans has Alzheimer’s, and the disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. Kristi will lead tonight’s fundraiser with her mother. Kristi’s grandmother currently suffers from Alzheimer’s, and her grandmother’s four brothers have died from complications of the disease.In May, Kristi was hired to be part of the association and is currently the community service liaison for the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Indiana Chapter. “It was kind of nice to get hired in a job my family’s been passionate about for years and years,” Kristi said. At an association booth at the Student Involvement Fair on Wednesday in Dunn Meadow, Kristi and representatives from organizations that offered senior care handed out brochures and pamphlets about Alzheimer’s and the upcoming walk. Abby Stanford, programming director for Autumn Hills Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Bloomington, said the center offers crafts and other activities for the residents. “Maybe (the residents) don’t talk so much anymore, but then they hear Frank Sinatra and they say, ‘Oh, I remember that,’” Stanford said. Wine and Canvas has organized fundraisers for Alzheimer’s in the past. A fundraiser last September raised $180, while this spring’s event in May raised $310. Kristi said she would like at least 50 people to attend the event. “I’d love to fill the room, but I also want to be realistic,” she said.
(08/30/12 12:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>High heels click on the pavement. Groups of as many as 10 people walk up and down one of the hottest bar-hopping spots in Bloomington, just a block away from the IU campus. Kirkwood Avenue. It’s 9 p.m. on a Friday night, and the air has a certain crisp edge to it — not too cool and not too hot.Doug Sparks, a bouncer at Nick’s English Hut, expects tonight to be busy.Sparks, 29, came prepared, wearing a uniform that barely resembles those of the other seven bouncers who are gatekeepers of the Hoosier Room entrance at Nick’s. Other than the required Nick’s T-shirt, atop Sparks’ shaved head is a pair of fuzzy polar bear ears a group of Ursus Vodka promoters gave to him about a year ago. He owns two pairs. Completing the ensemble are a pair of flashing Bud Light caps pinned over each nipple. Two G-Shock watches, one that purposefully reads the wrong time, complete the ensemble along with a Motorola walkie talkie slung onto his jeans.Tonight, Sparks is sore. When not working four days a week, about 30 hours total, he trains for national competitions in mixed martial arts. “Training’s my number one focus,” he says. “This is very secondary.” His primary focus helped him get the job more than two years ago. Although Sparks says he has been in only two altercations at Nick’s, no one has ever been a physical threat to him. And no wonder. His deadpan stare, as he closely examines the IDs to match the patron’s faces to their pictures, is intimidating. But then an unexpected smile spreads across his face as he hands back their IDs. “You’re awesome,” he says. “Have a great night.” People — especially women — are just as complimentary to Sparks. Five women in the middle of a bachelorette party, each wearing a masquerade ball mask, step up to the entrance. Sparks leans against the rail while taking his time reading their IDs. One of the women excitedly pulls out her camera and tells the bride she has to take a picture with the bouncer. The woman lifts her leg over Sparks and the camera flashes. “Bachelorette parties are the most irritating thing for someone in a bad mood,” Sparks said. He added that, thankfully, he’s not in a bad mood tonight. Despite Sparks’ intimidating stare, he never loses his patience. Except on game days. On game days, Sparks spends most of his time answering the same two questions.Patrons often ask if they can cut ahead in line to meet their friends or if they can bring a friend in without an ID. “I’ll answer these questions upwards of 40 to 50 times on a game day,” he said. “It just gets old. I feel like I’m running out of saliva to keep talking.”Fake IDs are another story. Right now, Sparks has a collection of 14 fake IDs, along with others he keeps at his desk at home. The only way people get their fake IDs back is if bouncers call the police. “We try to give them every chance we can,” he said. At 10:40 p.m., Sparks’ walkie talkie sounds. Not long after, one of the other bouncers hands Sparks a fake Florida ID. Clues to a fake ID include poorly designed holograms, bold fonts and strange textures. Sparks retrieves the bar’s “I.D. Checking Guide 2012”, a manual set to expire after February 2013.Around midnight, a car alarm goes off. “Nice ears, man,” said a guy in a group of three. “Nice titt-tays,” adds his friend, wearing a black V-neck T-shirt. It’s not even 1 a.m., which probably means the rest of Sparks’ shift at Nick’s won’t be as busy as he thought. And yet the sidewalks are still littered with people shouting, yelling and laughing. Even Sparks can’t deny Bloomington is still alive. The night is young.
(08/24/12 3:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Memorial Union is more than just a hotel. It’s the go-to spot on campus for pretty much everything. When completed in 1932, it was the world’s largest student union. We’ve broken down three of the floors to keep you from getting lost.FIRST FLOORSTARBUCKSWhile a Starbucks is located on Indiana Avenue, which is not far from the IMU, the Starbucks on the first floor is a popular spot where students study and catch up with friends. The large sitting area, also known as the IMU Gallery for its featured art, can seat dozens of patrons.SOUTH LOUNGEThe South Lounge, a brief walk from the IMU Starbucks, is another frequented stop for students looking for a cozy place to study. Students can sink into the large leather couches or read at a table near the windows.TUDOR ROOMThe Tudor Room is a great place to take your family to lunch. They even have delicious Sunday brunches. For more information about dining in this beautiful setting, visit www.imu.indiana.edu/dining/tudorroom.shtmlWHITTENBERGER AUDITORIUMThe Whittenberger Auditorium is known for its free weekly film series on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, which is organized by Union Board. The auditorium, which was named after the first president of the University’s first student union, John Whittenberger, can seat up to 400 people.ALUMNI HALLAlumni Hall, which is more formal than the Whittenberger Auditorium, is 5,000 square feet and the largest and most used meeting hall in the IMU, Event Manager and Sales Assistant Sarah Cady said. MEZZANINESUGAR & SPICESugar & Spice pastry chef Michael Craig said it is the only store of its kind in the country. It offers organic coffee, cheeses, meats and pastries ranging from traditional chocolate chip cookies to fancy cupcakes and cheesecakes.“We have our traditions, like the chocolate no-bakes and Special K chewies,” Craig said.It also offers mail orders for people from as far away as California.BACK ALLEY BOWLINGBack Alley Bowling offers more than what its title implies, operating a billiards and arcade room, Manager John Bower said.Rates for the general public are $2.50 for a bowling game, and black-light bowling is $2.75 for students and $3 for the general public. Rates for the billiards room for those without a student ID are $5.75 and $5.50 for students.LOBBYFRONT DESKThe Biddle Hotel front desk is located in the Union’s lobby near the Sycamore Corner Store.DUNN MEADOW CAFEDunn Meadow Cafe is an alternative to the Market at the Union food court which is located on the Mezzanine level. Formerly named Kiva, Dunn Meadow Cafe was reopened in February 2010, Retail Manager Holly Parient said. The menu lists an array of fresh sandwiches and various wraps and pitas.SYCAMORE CORNER STOREThe Sycamore Corner Store is a convenient shop for hotel guests, especially since it’s located next to the main desk in the lobby. The store also offers wine, chocolate baskets, beer, souvenir baskets and nut baskets.UPS STOREA convenient one-stop location for all your full-service packaging, shipping and postal needs. Whether you’re sending a souvenir from your stay back home or need to send a fax, the UPS Store, located just outside the lobby, can handle your requests.
(08/22/12 3:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Megan Richards brought the spirit of noted artist Theodore Clement Steele to the Venue Fine Art & Gifts Tuesday. Richards, arts program developer for the T.C. Steele State Historic Site in Brown County, discussed the life and artwork of Steele as well as programs available to artists. As one of the most famous members of the “Hoosier Group” of American impressionist painters, Steele became a popular artist in Brown County during the early 20th century. Since then, Brown County has been known as the “Art Colony of the Midwest.” The Steele Site, which currently houses more than 50 of Steele’s paintings, is operated by the Indiana State Museum. The museum houses the most comprehensive collection of Steele’s paintings. Born in 1847, Steele, like nature artist William Zimmerman, found inspiration in the rolling hills and landscapes of Southern Indiana. “He is constantly talking about beauty,” said Richards before reading Steele’s quotes during her presentation Tuesday. “He thinks that that’s one of the important things as an artist is to find beauty throughout the world.” Steele realized he wanted to be an artist at age 23. “I always tell people, I wish I had just a little bit of his determination and self-discipline, because you can accomplish a lot, like he did,” said Richards, who volunteered at the Historic Site before becoming the arts program director 10 months ago. With the encouragement of his mother, Steele received his first art set when he was 6 years old.“He’s also one of those that would associate music with art,” Richards said. “So he learned how to play the flute. He was very interested in those kind of combinations.” Although many of Steele’s paintings are of Indiana landscapes, portraits made Steele a well-known artist in the Midwest. Before returning to Indianapolis, where he helped create a cultural environment, Steele attended the Bavarian Royal Academy in Munich to receive formal education. During his time there, Steele painted “The Boatman,” which is currently displayed at the IU Art Museum. The Indiana Memorial Union also houses some of Steele’s paintings, including “Road Through Woods,” “Strength of the Hills” and “The Student Building.” This year, Barry Bauman, an independent Chicago-based art conservator, discovered an untitled, signed painting at the Steele Historic Site. While restoring Steele’s painting “An Old Garden,” Bauman removed the canvas and discovered a second completed painting underneath it. The painting is currently at the Indiana State Museum. The historic site conserves Steele’s studio, a red cottage surround by green foliage. In addition to guided tours, the site also has workshops led by contemporary artists and annual events. “(The T.C. Steele State Historic Site) is known for its natural beauty, and it kind of represents the artwork that is very popular in the Brown County art community,” said Venue curator Gabriel Colman, who has visited the site before. The Artist-in-Residence program, funded by the Indiana Arts Commission, allows artists to stay in a rustic cottage for up to a month, painting, promoting their work and talking to visitors.“It’s an absolutely gorgeous location,” Richards said. “Please don’t tell anybody, because I consider it my personal oasis.”
(08/20/12 2:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The curtain rises. The film begins to roll, and at once, the screen lights up. There is nothing quite like seeing movies on the big screen. At IU Cinema, the well-hidden projection booth is essential to give audiences a special movie-going experience. As one of 10 THX-certified university cinemas in the country, the booth contains four projectors that cost more than $2 million with installation. Backed by an alliance between Sony Electronics and IU, Jon Vickers, director of IU Cinema, said the booth’s installation was the second stage of renovation for the Lee Norvelle Theater and Drama Center built in 2001. “I think we put our money where our mouth is,” he said. Two of the projectors are capable of running 35 or 16 mm formats, while two digital projectors are equipped to present 4k and 2k resolutions.Ordered from archives around the world, the film prints are handled with particular care. Manny Knowles is responsible for all technical aspects of film presentation at IU Cinema. He inspects the prints, some 40 years old, for damage. “(The film prints) see a lot of wear and tear, and we want to make sure that we can separate our wear and tear from everybody else’s that came before us,” said Knowles, who has exhibited films since he was a teenager in the Bahamas.Unlike commercial theaters, the prints are not spliced but are put in two reel-to-reel projectors. After 20 minutes of a film screening presented with the 35 or 16 mm projectors, a cue appears — a blot in the upper right or left-hand corner of the screen.The cue usually goes unnoticed by the audience, but it signals for the projectionist to start the next projector, picking up where the other left off. Meanwhile, the projectionist rewinds the film on a separate table. The process is repeated every 20 minutes until the end of the movie. “The archives don’t want the rare prints of classic movies to be spliced, so that is a major reason to work with two projectors,” Knowles said. But Knowles isn’t the only one responsible for film projection at IU Cinema. Graduate assistant projectionists present films throughout the semester, Knowles said. He has been teaching film projection since 1998. Graduate students, who apply months before training begins, do not need to have film projection experience but must be working on their theses or dissertations.“This is a very rare kind of work,” Knowles said. “It’s one of those jobs where, to get the job, you need to have the experience, but you need to have the job to get the experience. So this is a good way to get that experience, and then if (the students) want to, they’ll continue doing it later if they can.” Mark Benedetti, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication and Culture, has been a projectionist at IU Cinema for about a year. He said the job was a good way to get hands-on experience that complements his film and media studies. “I wanted to know more about all the processes a theater goes through, from initial program selection and scheduling to print acquisition to publicity to all the technical procedures necessary to actually get the film on screen,” Benedetti said in an email. For special events, such as when the live orchestra played in conjunction with the 1922 silent film version of “David Copperfield” in January, up to three projectionists are responsible for overseeing various media formats in the booth. During the Made in Bloomington film series last spring, IU Cinema received Blu-Ray, DVD, digital cinema and video tape decks. For most films, only one film projectionist works in the booth.Vickers said past filmmakers have given positive comments about how their films were presented in the theater. “I think we’re using the equipment well, and I think the equipment is doing a great job for us,” he said. “We want to present great film-going experiences, and part of it is the equipment.”
(08/16/12 12:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 50 greatest films of all time looks different for everyone.Just ask James Naremore, professor emeritus in IU’s Department of Communication and Culture, who voted in the Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time — otherwise known as the Sight & Sound poll — released by the British Film Institute every 10 years. Naremore, who wrote the BFI-published book “On Kubrick” in 2007, said he was “deliberately contrary in some of (his) choices” when he listed his top 10 movies. “I figured that Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’ and Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ were going to fight it out for first place, so to go slightly against the tide I chose ‘Touch of Evil’ and ‘Rear Window,’” Naremore said in an email. “On purpose, I also picked a few films that aren’t the usual suspects — I think they deserve more attention.” Two of Naremore’s choices — the 1929 silent documentary “Man with a Movie Camera” and F.W. Murnau’s “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” — made the top 10 in the Sight & Sound poll. In the past, IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers has presented “Sunrise” as part of the City Lights Film series, which continues this year with “Bride of Frankenstein,” “Petulia” and other classic films.Of the 50 movies listed, Vickers said he has presented about 35 since he’s been in the movie business. Although only two movies from the 21st century — David Lynch’s “Mulholland Dr.” and “In the Mood for Love,” directed by Wong Kar-wai — made the cut, Vickers said the movies on the Sight & Sound poll could serve as a reference for students who want a good taste of cinema. “They should embrace and find out where the new stories are being informed from,” he said. “Because mostly filmmakers have some kind of film history, whether it’s from viewing or schooling or whatever it might be. And films on this list are making up, hopefully, some of that film history.” Deciding which films to feature for IU Cinema’s fall 2012 program is a complex process, Vickers said, and is based on the mission to present quality film. Digitally restored classics such as “Casablanca” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” are scheduled later this fall, but recent favorites such as “Mean Girls” and films by young directors are also thrown into the mix. “We have to try to find a balance between things that we know are good films as well as things that are fresh and relevant and important to another generation,” Vickers said. The pool of documentaries scheduled for this semester appeals to the younger generation. The filmakers speaking on these documentaries will add context and insight for viewers.Werner Herzog, director of “Grizzly Man” and the 1979 film “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” will lecture on Sept. 11 and 13 at the Whittenberger Auditorium. A public interview will follow at 3 p.m. Sept. 14 at IU Cinema.In addition, French director Claire Denis will take part in an IU Cinema event Nov. 10 in conjunction with the screening of seven of her films. Other visiting directors include Walter Salles, director of the upcoming film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel “On the Road,” Todd Solondz, Alison Klayman and Brian Crano. “With the emphasis on these other art house filmmakers and directors that we’re bringing, I think that was something we focused on in the past, but we kind of put a little additional effort into it this semester,” Vickers said.
(07/26/12 12:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Local indie band Keeping Cars has been working hard. Keyboardist and front man Grahm Bailey has spent an average of eight hours per day for about two months booking shows at venues throughout the Midwest and East Coast. “I’ve literally pulled every single resource possible I could find,” said Bailey, a senior majoring in psychology and philosophy at IU. Following their EP release show, the trio will embark on a 25-date tour after the release of their first EP “FRAMES,” which they debuted at The Bishop Bar on Tuesday night. The EP features six synth-rock songs, most of which were written since the band formed in late fall 2011. Recording the EP was not a seamless process. The songs were recorded at a local church, with bass and guitar tracked separately. Bailey — balancing keyboard while synching beats on his Macbook Pro during performances — used the software Ableton to give their alternative sound an electronic edge.“It’s hard to perceive your own music and know what it sounds like because you’re just too close to (your music) to really hear it,” said drummer Zak Stoldt, a senior studying telecommunications at IU. “But consistently, people keep telling us, ‘Well, I don’t really know what to compare this to.’” Since there are only three band members — a guitarist, drummer and lead singer/keyboardist — the band asked Bradley Briggs, member of former band Urbanites of Valparaiso, to play the bass for a few songs. Mike Regan, a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, mixed the tracks on the EP. “They have a sound that sticks with you,” said Regan, who lives in Valparaiso and has mixed music for six years. “After mixing songs for them, two days later I have their songs in my head. They’re not forgettable songs. They’re very good, catchy.” Guitarist Brock Eveland, a senior studying arts management at IU, went to Europe for five weeks while Bailey booked venue shows and Stoldt designed T-shirts. At the end of May, Eveland tracked the guitar for the songs before taking off. Despite the band’s academic preoccupations, Keeping Cars has made sacrifices to make music the No. 1 priority. “I think some of the coolest parts of this whole journey have been things that nobody will ever see,” Stoldt said. “Recording until 4 in the morning and then going to class the next day and everybody is like, ‘I got so shit-faced last night,’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we sat in a big room and played music until 4 in the morning.’” Keeping Cars has played at some of Bloomington’s most popular venues Rhino’s All-Ages Club, Bear’s Place, Max’s Place and Rachel’s Café. IU junior Jen Samson, who knows Eveland through the arts administration program at IU, attended Tuesday’s show and has been seeing the band live since they got together. “I know that’s what they’ve been aiming to do,” said Samson about Keeping Cars making music a career. “They’ve been doing a lot of shows this summer.” This summer, the band has played at The Bluebird and Jake’s Nightclub, as well as house parties. Bailey, who took a break from music last year to race in Little 500, said he began to take music more seriously in summer 2011. “I’ve tried to escape it, in the past, I tried to stop playing music and stop doing it,” Bailey said. “But I can’t, it’s a part of me, it’s a passion that keeps coming back.”
(07/23/12 12:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Amidst an unstable economy, aspirations are often replaced with pragmatic means, especially for artists. This trend affecting college graduates who wish to support themselves with a career in the arts is explored in the 20-minute short “It’s Okay to Be Happy,” which is being filmed in Bloomington until July 28. Filming will take place in five businesses: Le Petit Café, Mother Bears Pizza, FARMbloomington restaurant, Bloomington Monroe County Convention Center and Solution Lab, a shared office space.Buhu Design, an independent film studio in Chicago, and IU student group GameZombie.tv are each contributing to the film. Directed by Charles Pearce — an IU alum, executive producer of Buhu Design and former production manager of GameZombie.tv — “It’s Okay to be Happy” centers around Chris, an everyman artist stuck working night shifts as a tech support representative. Although lead actor Douglas Burbank originated the story, Chantel Mikiska, a freelance writer and poet in Los Angeles who also graduated from IU,wrote the screenplay. “We thought that was a highly identifiable story, and it’s one that merits much of what Doug has done in his life,” said Pearce, whose wife Sara Cashman Pearce is producing the film. “So, we took that and we tried to kind of broaden ... beyond to it just happening to one person.” Most of the cast and production team are also current IU students or alums, with another crew filming additional footage in Chicago. Burbank, 29, graduated from IU in 2006 with a degree in theater and drama. After finding little success in the acting field during his two years in New York, Burbank returned to Bloomington, then Chicago, where he helps refine story ideas for production at Buhu Design.In about a month, Burbank will attend IU’s Maurer School of Law.While Burbank said he was interested in doing a more dramatic acting project, Pearce wanted to direct a film set in the Midwest. During a dialogue between the main character Chris and a friend, Chris recounts walking past a group of people eating brunch and drinking mimosas outside a restaurant after an all-night work shift. “That absolutely happened, and that was sort of like the impetus, and that’s kind of the story I told Charles to get this going,” Burbank said. The script has gone through several revisions to round out Chris’ profile, including the addition of Ash — Chris’ girlfriend — played by IU student Jacque Emord-Netzley. Anisa Dema, who graduated from IU in 2005 with degrees in political science and philosophy, plays Nicole, a character who urges Chris to consider a social media job at a company where she is employed. Dema, who attended law school in Minnesota for a year after graduating, said she was asked by Pearce and Cashman to play Nicole’s part. “I read the script and saw how organized they were about every detail, so I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it,’” said Dema, who also works as an accountant in New York. “And the script is something anyone in their early 20s to early 30s can relate to, especially for someone doing artistic endeavors.” Buhu Design and GameZombie.tv plan to complete post-production for “It’s Okay to be Happy” by the end of this year, in time for the 2013 film festival circuit, according to a press release. The film, Pearce said, will be admitted to the South-by-Southwest Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival and several regional film festivals. “Almost from the beginning, (the film) became this kind of hand-in-hand approach to not only making something that we were really passionate about ... but also making sure we were building something that could be legitimately competitive as well,” he said. Pearce said the most common feedback he has heard from people helping with the project is that the plot is highly relatable. “Ultimately, the resolution that our character comes to is that your identity is not driven by whether you’re working,” he said. “It’s much more driven by whether you’re happy with life, hence the title ‘It’s Okay to be Happy.’” The film closes with Chris’ decision to be interviewed for the social media position. During the interview, Chris is asked what he wants. Both Pearce and Burbank purposefully gave the story a cliff-hanger ending so viewers can decide what Chris should do with his life. “I don’t want to give it away,” Burbank said. “I have to know what Chris wants to do so I have to figure out what Chris’ ultimate decision is for it.”
(07/18/12 11:59pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Steve Lafler is a writer and a musician, but above all, Lafler considers himself a cartoonist.According to a Q&A on the New York Press website, Lafler realized he wanted to be a comic book artist when he was 3 or 4 years old. Now, Lafler is touring the U.S. to promote his 400-plus-page comic book, “Ménage à Bughouse,” published by co2 Comics. On Tuesday evening, Lafler visited Boxcar Books and Community Center in downtown Bloomington, where he narrated scene excerpts from “Bughouse.” The book is a compilation of Lafler’s previously published “Bughouse” trilogy about saxophonist Jimmy Watts and his band of bugs clawing their way to the top of the jazz world. The characters’ journeys are sidetracked by the temptation to consume the addictive substance “bug juice.” Throughout the “Bughouse” trilogy, which was published by Top Shelf Productions, Lafler explores the nature of substance addiction. “In my early 30s ... I had gotten to a point where I was a very heavy drinker, and it never stopped me from doing anything or making art, but by the time I started ‘Bughouse,’ it was getting in the way,” said Lafler, who has been living in Oaxaca, Mexico for five years with his wife and two children. “So, part of the impulse to do this art was to A, explain to myself why addiction works and B, kind of write/draw myself out of a tight spot that I had gotten myself into.” By the time the third volume of the “Bughouse” series was published, Lafler said Top Shelf “lost a little bit of zeal for promoting and publishing it through the market, so I guess I had a little bit of a sense of a job unfinished.” Two years ago, co2 Comics asked Lafler to publish with them online. Although Lafler said he was skeptical about online publishing, co2’s visual presentation of comics online led him to accept the offer, and he ended up writing both “El Vocho: Love at the Twilight of Oil,” and his series “DOG BOY” for online publication. Publishing all three volumes of “Bughouse” in one hardcopy book, the first volume of which critic Rob Clough named No. 22 on his list of Top 100 Comics of the ’00s, was something Lafler said he always wanted to do. The “Bughouse” series is told in a 1950s noir style, but the characters are bug people. Thus, Lafler created the term “insect-noir.” “I was trying to invoke or create some idea of a mood,” Lafler said. “I mean it’s just, it’s goofy, too. It’s a bit of an oxymoron. I mean, what does it mean? Nothing, really.” David Cronenberg’s 1991 film “Naked Lunch,” adapted from William S. Burroughs’ 1959 novel, was one of Lafler’s inspirations for “Bughouse.” Six months before starting the series, Lafler said he read an autobiography about jazz musician Miles Davis, which also inspired him to set the novel in the Bebop era. Bloomington resident David Boyer has known Lafler for about 25 years and works with Lafler to create tourist T-shirts in San Francisco. Boyer, perhaps better known as employee “Bagel Dave” at Bloomington Bagel Company, said Lafler’s storytelling techniques have developed. “He’s just good at what he does, and he’s done it for a long, long time, and so what I love about it is I’ve seen it develop and grow,” he said. “But he was already good when I met him.”
(07/16/12 12:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Lo-fi rapper Beverly Bounce House is Alex Swartzentruber.The 24-year-old Goshen, Ind., native first called himself Bounce House three years ago. On his 21st birthday, a friend gave him a card that read, “BeverlyBounce House.”But it wasn’t until spring 2011 that Beverly, or Bevy for short, braved the stage alone at Rachel’s Café where a friend and fellow musician asked him to play theacoustic guitar for a show.“I was like, ‘I think I’m just going to rap,’” says Bevy, smiling. “I don’t know, it was funny.”It didn’t take long for the rapper, who has performed in genres ranging from pop-punk to experimental to folk bands since middle school, to release his two mixtapes on his Bandcamp account and a YouTube collection of more than 60 videos.His Facebook following consists of almost 900 friends alongside a Twitter account with 304 followers.Known for performing with his hype man — an individual who fires up the crowd for the main act — Kurdus Conrad at house parties, Bevy, at least as a rapper, has never been paid to perform.Bevy transferred from Purdue University his sophomore year after he was unable to produce any music with people he says “weren’t weird enough for me.” After graduating from IU in 2011 with degrees in Spanish and English with a focus in poetry, he eventually began teaching English as a second language part-time at Learning Plus, Inc., a Korean institute in the same building as Rachel’s Café.“You’ve got to build up enough of a name to get people to come up to your shows that are venue shows,” he says. “I play mostly house shows so people can come and see me for free, and they laugh and have fun and stuff.”When Bevy did try to approach his music with a career in mind, he says he experienced writer’s block and became stressed.His two mix tapes, which are downloadable for free, were released in 2011. Bevy’s first mixtape, “Sorry Mom,” was put online in spring 2011 and consists of 14 songs. Many of the songs are matched to YouTube videos Bevy films with friends.In the YouTube video titled “TEXT ME IM DRUNK AND I DON’T WANNA GO TO SLEEP (EXPLICIT) PROD,” Bevy is seen sitting on the steps of his house with friends, sitting on the couch and standing outside, where he parodies Katy Perry’s costume in the “California Gurls”music video.His music on his Bandcamp site is tagged with “indie”, “lo-fi party rap” and “Bloomington.”Lo-fi, a genre for music recorded with inexpensive equipment, features a low-quality audio sound. Until recently, Bevy began using a more expensive microphone on his MacBook Pro laptop.The song, which accounts the experience of being drunk while hungry and bored, could end up on one of the many mix tapes Bevy hands out to friends or has yet to complete. Right now, he’s working on about five mix tapes, but he can’t remember exactly how many.“It’s really scatterbrained,” he says.***In the basement of a house on the south side of Bloomington, a green light illuminates Bevy rapping the words to a song titled “Bounce House.” It’s his most viewedYouTube video.Shirtless, hype man Conrad, who currently lives with Bevy, holds a microphone to his mouth. It’s after midnight, and the basement is hot, loud and fullof people.Conrad has known Bevy for about 15 years and has been making music with him since middle school.When Bevy performed with other hype men, it didn’t click, says Conrad, who joined Bevy as his impromptu hype man at Jake’s Nightclub one night.Although no one in Bevy’s family is musically inclined, living in Midwest suburbia led Bevy and his friends to amuse themselves withexperimental music.Bevy, who is part European, Native American Indian, Mexican and Chinese, says that for a while he didn’t have the confidence to rap because of the stigma of being a Midwestern white rapper.“He raps a lot about the Great Lakes, the Midwest, things like that,” Conrad says. “The seasons, pretty things. It’s allhis experience.”Nathan Siery, former guitarist of the post-rock band Clouds As Oceans, says Bevy’s music is about being nice to people, as evidenced by the song “Be Nice (Produced by Chode)” on “Sorry Mom.”“He also kind of, I don’t know, he makes a very intelligent point of view and mixes it with the kind of party rap style that he does, too,” Siery says.Bevy’s second mix tape, released in November 2011, consists of music by Clouds As Oceans mixed with Bevy’s beats and rap lyrics.Although Bevy has performed at the Bishop Bar and the Bluebird with Clouds As Oceans, Siery says most people will be more inclined to attend a performance at ahouse party.“It’s tough to make the transition to get people to actually pay to come out to your show,” Siery says.Although Bevy’s songs tend to be on the sillier side, Siery says some of his lyrics allude to more serious subjects related to pop culture and life experiences.“I think it just kind of comes from his experience and of being kind of this party figure and rapper in town,” he says. “He kind of takes the world with adifferent approach.”During the summer, Bevy says he has performed at fewer house parties than during spring semester, when he would sometimes perform twiceevery weekend.Right now, Bevy is also working on a mix tape of 60 one-minute songs for the drinking game Power Hour, a game in which participants drink a shot of beer every minute of an hour.“I don’t believe in taking myself too seriously,” Bevy says. “I feel like that’s what I want from a performance, or I feel like the best possible scenario would be half and half. It’s not fully comedy, but it’s not fully serious. Because that’s how life is, pretty much.”
(07/16/12 12:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Comedian Chelsea Peretti likes to feel out her audience before proceeding with her stand-up routines. On Friday night, wearing all black, Peretti took the stage at The Comedy Attic, microphone in hand, spotlight illuminating her face. “I’m always trying to take the temp a little bit,” she said to the crowd, joking. “See where everyone’s heads are right now and stuff like that.” Peretti performed once Thursday night and two times both Friday and Saturday nights at The Comedy Attic. Peretti, who is currently touring the U.S. before heading off to the Montreal Comedy Festival, wrote for the fourth season of the NBC show “Parks & Recreation” and has also written for “The Sarah Silverman Program,” the “MTV Movie Awards” and “The Nick Kroll Show”. Peretti has also performed at multiple stand-up festivals and has established the YouTube comedy projects “Making Friends” and “All My Exes,” along with the launching of BlackPeopleLoveUs.com. Recently, Peretti has received backlash for expressing support of comedian Daniel Tosh on her Twitter account. In March of this year, Peretti appeared on comedian Daniel Tosh’s “Less Is More” Comedy Corner on Comedy Central. Earlier in July, Tosh performed at the Laughing Factory Comedy Club in Los Angeles, where he allegedly made a rape joke and provoked a female audience member. The audience member, who has remained anonymous, later wrote a blog post on Tumblr.com about the experience, alleging that Tosh retaliated and said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like five guys right now?” On July 10, Tosh apologized on his Twitter account with a link to the audience member’s blog post, followed by another post reading, “The point I was making before I was heckled is there are awful things in the world you can still make jokes about them. #deadbabies.” Two days later, Peretti wrote “PRO TOSH BRO” on her Twitter account.Then, Twitter user “Amadi” wrote, “A day after saying she’s pro-Tosh Chelsea Peretti is trying to regain feminist cred. It doesn’t work like that. #fail.”“I’ve been reading these things all day,” Peretti said after her first routine Friday night. Joshua Murphy and Conor Delehanty, both current contenders at the 4th Annual Bloomington Comedy Festival at The Comedy Attic, each did a stand-up routine before Peretti took the stage.At one point during Peretti’s routine, a woman from the crowd yelled, “You got this, girl” after Peretti asked, as a joke, if anybody wanted to end the show for her. In response to the woman in the audience, Peretti said, “I know you’re a good person.” Peretti admitted to The Comedy Attic owner Jared Thompson that she thought the woman’s comment was negative heckling, which Thompson said the club has a strict policy against.“I was in a bit of a weird head space and, like, it’s always weird also when someone yells out, like you can’t tell if it will be an issue,” Peretti said. Since Thompson and his wife opened The Comedy Attic in September 2008, a video has always been shown before every performance requesting that the audience refrain from heckling the comedians. “Stand-up comedy is the only art form that, for whatever reason, people think they’re involved in the show,” Thompson said. “The quick answer is that if someone were to do what the lady did at the Tosh show, we would have completely removed her immediately. ... Any club should do that.” According to LAUGHSPIN, an online publication about comedy, comedian Tammy Pescatelli wrote editor-in-chief Dylan Gadino about being assaulted at the Comedy Zone in Jacksonville, Fla. According to Pescatelli’s letter, a drunken audience member threw a glass of wine at her head after an unpleasant verbal exchange. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department did not press charges. “I mean, we’re lucky to have a town that seems like it’s maybe above this sort of thing,” Thompson said. “But you know, it’s just scary from time to time, and hopefully this thing will settle down a little bit with the audience trying to participate and be part of the show.” After Pescatelli went to the State Attorney’s office the morning after the assault, she wrote that she was told that because the club called the non-emergency police line and that the officers didn’t arrest the audience member, the case would probably not be pursued. Pescatelli also wrote that she received a feeling of bias — that comedians should expect heckling — from the justice department. “Comedy is or maybe WAS the last bastion of free speech,” she wrote. “Who will standup for standups?” Melinda Kashner, a server at The Comedy Attic who participated in last year’s Comedy Festival and is also competing in this year’s, said Tosh’s rape joke has turned into a feminist issue raising awareness of how women are treated in comedy. “The thing is, that woman got offended, and she has every right to, and instead of telling her to calm down and take a joke people should think about why rape is such an issue in this society,” she said. “And people should stop taking audiences’ reactions so lightly because people reacted in this way for a reason, and I think it’s because rape is a neglected issue in this country.” Peretti said the biggest challenge in stand-up comedy is being honest while connecting with people, adding that other challenges include crowd management, dealing with people who think women aren’t funny, traveling and working for clubs that underpay. “But the creative aspect to me is the one that I try to focus on,” she said. “Which is just like wanting to be, you know, to actually make something that I love every night.”
(07/12/12 12:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A middle-aged woman lies on a couch with no clothes on. Her entire body is tattooed with multi-colored shapes and flowers that blend with the couch. The picture, which was taken in 1995 by Jeff Crisman, an associate professor for photography at Chicago State University, is the poster image for a new exhibit at the Kinsey Institute Gallery. “Ephemeral Ink: Selections of Tattoo Art From the Kinsey Institute Collections” opened July 9 and will remain until Sept. 21. Gallery hours are 1:30 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.More than 50 photographs throughout the 20th century and as recent as 2011 display people’s tattooed bodies, demonstrating the evolution of tattoo styling and technique. Amy Tims, a historian and librarian who recently graduated from the School of Library and Information Science at IU, curated the exhibit during a fall 2011 internship at the Kinsey Institute.“I think (the exhibit) shows both the evolution and then also the return to beginnings,” said Garry Milius, associate curator of art, artifacts and photographs at the Kinsey Institute. The exhibit was first displayed at the Catholic liberal arts school Marian University Indianapolis in late February of this year.According to an article in the Knight Times, the student newspaper at Marian, the exhibit caused discomfort among students who found some images to be too lewd.The exhibit was shown at Marian after Jenny Pauckner, assistant professor of art and art history at Marian, visited the Kinsey Institute during summer 2011, according to the article. Milius said a few pieces “didn’t make the cut” when the exhibit was being submitted to Marian. “I think (Tims) was careful to select pieces that were appropriate for that setting,” Milius said. “I think she was surprised when a couple of pieces were removed from it. I think she also understood.” During the curating process, Tims said she had free range to choose the pieces, which were all pulled from the Kinsey Institute’s permanent library collection, she wanted in the exhibit.Tims said there has been a growing ubiquity of tattoos, although she doesn’t attribute the popularity to one main reason. “There’s also, of course, this idea of the way tattoos become more mainstream, more common, the middle class thinking of tattoos, if you will,” said Tims, who has three crescent moons, three stars and an image of a Medusa on her inner left forearm. “Or there’s this idea of getting a tattoo is a fine art object on yourself as opposed to getting a tattoo as a mark of lower class status.” Highlights include pictures and historical facts about Samuel Steward, a novelist and English literature professor who led a closeted life of homosexual activity and went by the pseudonym Doc Sparrow when he became an official tattoo artist in the mid-20th century. Colin McClain, who has been tattooing since 1999 and is currently employed at local tattoo business Skinquake Precision Tattoo & Body Piercing, said he thinks tattooing was romanticized during that period and was seen as a deviant act. Tims also pointed out depictions of tattoos of cultural symbols — celebrities, cartoon figures and political figures of contemporary entertainment — as another staple of the exhibit. In one photograph, which is originally part of a 2011 series called “Transcendence II,” a man is injecting testosterone into his arm. A drawing of Ramona Quimby, from Louis Darling’s 1955 illustrated edition of “Beezus and Ramona,” is tattooed on the subject’s left arm. “I think that as the social perception of tattooing changes, so do people’s perception of the act of getting tattooed,” said McClain in an email.
(07/08/12 11:53pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Serbian planes flew over the bomb shelters Pakistani artist Arieb Azhar lived in for about a year and a half during his 13-year stay in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Then, in mid-1991, the Croatian War of Independence erupted and lasted for four years.Twenty-one years later, Azhar imparts Sufi poetry in the form of music for a living. Sufi poetry, which stems from Sufism, a mysticaldimension of Islam, contains words of peace, love and acceptance.On Thursday at the City Hall Council Chambers, Bloomington sponsored an intimate performance given by Azhar and his quartet, who played the flute, electric guitar and tabla — a pair of small drums used in Indian music — with Azhar singing and playing the acoustic guitar.The event was part of Center Stage, an initiative of the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administered by the nonprofit New England Foundation for the Arts.The program aims to create cultural diplomacy between the U.S. and Haiti, Indonesia and Pakistan through the performing arts.The Center Stage tour began in June and will end in December, featuring 10 different foreign ensembles.Since June 19, Azhar and his band have played in nine different cities. This is Azhar and his band’s first time in the country.“If you look at his bio, it’s sort of an astounding mix of eclectic Irish folk music, an eclectic blend of all sorts of music, so I mean when you talk about world music, Arieb really is that,” said Miah Michaelsen, the assistant economic development director for the arts for the city of Bloomington.“It really is a mash up of all sorts of musical traditions.”Local publicity firm Rock Paper Scissors, which is responsible for Azhar’s publicity during his Center Stage tour, contacted the city for Azhar to do a free performance before playing at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago.According to a press release announcing Azhar’s Bloomington visit, Azhar lived as a busker before establishing himself as an artist.Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Azhar said he has been singing for as long as he can remember. His parents were both former theater actors and were involved with Pakistani television.Azhar’s childhood was marked by the underground communist movement during an 11-year dictatorship beginning in 1978.Inspired by Latin American poetry and music, Azhar began to sing “revolutionary” songs before going to the Soviet Union as a 17-year-old.He thought the Soviet Union would be the promised land.“I went there and I got disillusioned,” he said.“My view of the world was too black and white. And there was exploitation and injustice going on in that society as well, and over there it was not the capitalists who were doing it, it was the communist party. So I saw, no, there are shades of gray between the black and white which interest me more than the black and white.”After returning to Pakistan, Azhar then left again with a group of filmmakers to study film in Zagreb.After the war broke out, Azhar’s parents insisted he return home in Pakistan. But Azhar continued to live in Zagreb and began studying philosophy and Indology — the study of Indian culture — at the University of Zagreb. He began playing Irish Celtic music with a band called the Shamrock Rovers.“And then I just fell in love with the place, probably because I spent that difficult period there and I just got — I became very, very close to a lot of people, and I still consider it my other home,” Azhar said.“Then in my last few years, I felt that I had lost touch with the soul in my music, and I felt I stopped growing as a musician, and I just had a need to come back to my roots and discover more about my roots music.”Once he returned to Pakistan, Azhar explored folk music and Sufi poetry. From thereon, Azhar formed the band that he still plays with today.Zeeshan Mansoor, who plays the electric guitar with Azhar, said he’s known Azhar for about a decade.“He comes from a very different kind of place as compared to a lot of people that I grew up with who played music,” said Mansoor, who grew up listening to jazz, blues, funk and soul music. “Over the years, I think he’s gotten a lot more sure of what he wants to do.”Mansoor said the band never rehearses together before giving performances.“Basically, his songs and the whole sound is about him singing and the poetry and the way that he’s saying things to people,” he said.Azhar, who met with representatives from Center Stage after finding out about the project, said his experience in the U.S. has dispelled his notions about the country.Since starting the tour in June, Azhar said he has been playing for largely local audiences who perhaps have not heard his type of music.“If you’re living in Pakistan, the only thing about the U.S. we know is through the U.S. military’s actions around the world and things we see on the news,” he said. “So, this project is beautiful because it tries to connect musicians on a verypeople-to-people level.”
(07/08/12 11:25pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the first Friday of every month at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, artists attend a reception to showcase their exhibits on display for the rest of the month.The process of selecting artists is not a quick one. Julie Roberts, the gallery director for the arts center, said she and three other jurors select artists based on technique, originality and consistency. “We get a large number of amateur and professional artists, sometimes students,” Roberts said. Artists have the opportunity to submit their art twice a year — once in spring and once in fall — to an online portal. Then, the judges grade each artist’s submission on a scale of 1 to 100. On Friday evening, four local artists displayed a diverse work of art — photography, printmaking, painting and microscopic snapshots of plants and animals — that will hang in the center’s galleries for the month of July. "TIME MACHINE"Louisville, Ky., native Dale Gardner will take thousands of pictures and only pick one that he likes. An U.S. Navy engineer who currently lives in Bloomington, Gardner said he’s been practicing photography for about 15 years. Gardner’s exhibit consists of photographs that contrast different time periods. The photograph “Control,” which features a barcode below an old, black and white picture of a woman, was what kick-started Gardner’s idea for the exhibit. Gardner said he’s “never been very good” at photography. “In fact, a lot of those pictures in there have all the bad photographic techniques buried in them,” he said. “That’s why they’re funny colors, and it works out. So, it’s good to not be good at photography sometimes.” "MEMOIR" British artist Claire Swallow said there are differences in being an artist in England and being an artist in the United States. “In England, you tend to do exhibits not for sale but more for the museum,” Swallow said. “Here, it’s more you sell your work. It’s a different way, but it’s still hard to get your work seen in both arenas.” Swallow came to the U.S. seven years ago with her husband, Jonathan Simons, who is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Culture at IU. Swallow began creating art early in her life and received professional training while taking night classes at a community college. Her first exhibit was in 2004 in Nottingham, United Kingdom. In “Falling/Rising,” pieces of nails, acrylic, wire and other materials are painted over with various colors, creating a two-dimensional, abstract feel. “I have boxes full of junk,” Swallow said. “I like shiny, sparkly things. I like to collect them. I like getting my hands dirty.” "THAT TAKES THE CAKE"Sarah E Wain’s painting might make onlookers hungry at first glance. Her paintings, inspired by food blogs, feature chocolate cupcakes spread with thick white frosting, a three-layered chocolate cake topped by sliced strawberries and other decadent desserts. “I like my paintings to be large scale. Realistic, but large scale,” said Wain, who earned her degree in art education at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. Her paintings have also been exhibited at Bloomington Bagel Company and Darn Good Soup.Two years ago, Wain came to Bloomington with her husband and has been painting for three years. Wain said she wants to explore different subject matters in her art, such as portraiture. “LIFE UNDER THE LENS — THE ART OF MICROSCOPY” More than 10 years ago, Alex Straiker — an associate scientist in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU — discovered the beauty of the images he was studying under a microscope. Straiker’s research currently centers around the characterization of cannabinoids, which are chemical compounds in the brain. But the exhibit on the third floor at the arts center largely features microscopic images of plants and animals. Jessica Lucas, a postdoctoral researcher and educator in the IU biology department, took images of Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant related to broccoli and canola. Straiker and Chris Sekirnjak, who started the idea for the exhibit and is a scientific consultant in Denver, Colo., captured images of mostly mouse tissue. “There are things we can’t see, things that are invisible to us without the right tools,” Straiker said. “And as part of our research, there are just a lot of new and interesting tools that have come into our hands, especially within the last several years, that have allowed us to see things. And I just regularly find myself looking at what I’m seeing under the microscope and thinking, ‘My god, this is beautiful.’” Currently, Straiker is working with two other artists to produce a gallery at the IU Art Museum that displays the intersection of art and science for fall 2013.
(07/04/12 11:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Muscles, men, ass-less chaps. Not much else describes why (mostly female) audiences probably enjoyed the highly anticipated “Magic Mike,” directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum as experienced stripper Mike. Set in Tampa, Fla., Mike is a construction worker by day and stripper by night, with a custom-furniture business on the side. His goal is to save up enough $1 bills to open his own business and ditch the nightlife of partying and on-stage pelvic thrusts.After Mike takes 19-year-old Adam (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing, Mike begins to realize stripping isn’t who he really “is” and begins to “find himself” with the help of Adam’s sister Brooke (Cody Horn). If it weren’t for Matthew McConaughey’s presence as the fanatical nightclub owner Dallas, the movie would be on the verge of repetitive rom-com.“Magic Mike” is anything but ambitious with its storyline, but it doesn’t need to be. While Tatum tends to come across as a whimpering puppy at times, he generally doesn’t take himself too seriously. For example, take the scene in which he impersonates Marilyn Monroe in drag. Despite a predictable turn of events, Soderbergh does a good job of totally reversing the male gaze in cinema. As long as you can watch it for what it really is — a reason to display ripped male bodies — “Magic Mike” will be enjoyable for viewers of both sexes. And that truly is magical. By Jaclyn Lansberry
(07/04/12 11:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Buskirk-Chumley Theater Box Office changed the way patrons can purchase their tickets starting July 1. Fifty organizations that use the BCT Box Office to sell tickets will now allow patrons to make their purchases wherever, whenever and without a $2 convenience fee. The new system, called OvationTix, will also give patrons the option to schedule reserved seating online and to redeem ticket subscriptions.Before, the BCT Box Office used eFOLIO, an online ticketing system that incurred $2 convenience fees whenever patrons purchased tickets online or on the phone. Promoters who use OvationTix will now have 24/7 access to sales information to tailor their marketing strategies to customers. Although the new system will be more expensive to operate and promoters must pay a fee to set it up,, theater businesses also expect the convenience to lead to more ticket sales, offsetting the cost of the new system. According to a BPP press release that explained these new adjustments — which for the BPP also include moving curtain times for the upcoming season from 8 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. — the theater was the most well-attended during the 2011-2012 season in its 32-year history. BPP Managing Director Gabe Gloden attributes last season’s success to cheap tickets for quality shows. The theater, which Gloden said offers the cheapest rates in town, offers a pay-what-you-can preview the Thursday before the Friday performance of a new show. “If you don’t have any money to spend on the show, but you still want to see the show, you can come to that performance for free, no questions asked,” he said. In addition, the theater offers their student-rush rate, meaning that if a student — from high school, community college or IU — arrives five minutes before a performance starts, they can purchase tickets for $5. Additionally, the theater ends its season in June and only offers summer youth camps rather than shows during the summer. Gloden said he’s not surprised by the theater’s success given the time and effort it takes to produce shows. “All those things I think enhance the value of the final product of the show,” he said. “But at the same time trying to keep that ticket price down, we’re not alienating people. We really want people to come see a show.” Purchasing tickets in advance created an inconvenience because of the $2 fee, Gloden said, even though tickets will now be a dollar more when bought through OvationTix. “It’s just another step for us, I think, moving in the right direction, basically eliminating any barrier whatsoever a patron might have to buy a ticket in advance,” he said. Maarten Bout, associate executive director for the BCT, said the BCT has earned more than $15,000 in revenue for upcoming shows since launching OvationTix, “which is pretty good for three days of being on sale.” The BCT also now processes more than 11,000 transactions for 580 events annually, according to a press release announcing the ticket service changes. Many of the productions that the BCT hosts at its space in downtown Bloomington are from local theater businesses, such as Youth Theatre. Bout said the appeal of the artist who is performing a show is important to the marketing process, and that presenters are conscientious of who lives in Bloomington at the time. “Bloomington audiences are really clever. They are opinionated and they look for things to do,” said Bout. “We have a great audience that really knows what they want. So, you know, I think at the core, it comes down to making sure that people know that the show goes on, and then knowing that the singer presenting resonates with the audience.” At the end of June, the IU Department of Theatre and Drama offered IU faculty, staff and students the opportunity to receive two free tickets for the Tuesday and Wednesday showing of “Damn Yankees,” which premiered for a special discount June 13. Tickets for IU Theatre shows are generally $25 for adults and $15 for students and those 18 and younger. “‘Damn Yankees’ has been a tough sell this summer,” said Director of Audience Development John Kinzer in an email. “Mainly due to us getting a late start in the overall marketing plan, but I heard whispers that others are struggling. We are doing all sorts of ticket giveaways and discounts to generate audience.” Kinzer also said the first children’s offering in decades — “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs,” which premiered June 23 — is doing well. Currently, all upcoming shows of “3 Little Pigs” are sold out. Kinzer said summaries from last season showed a growth of more than 1,000 tickets compared to the year prior. “Interestingly, we have set more modest goals for the coming season, but I am working on a plan to exceed these goals,” he said. Kinzer did not point out what those plans would be. Drew Bratton, arts administrator for IU Theatre and managing director for the 2012 Indiana Festival Theatre, which kicked off with “Damn Yankees,” said all tickets are bought through Ticketmaster. Patrons pay a convenience fee if tickets are either bought online or with season subscriptions but not when they are bought at the IU Auditorium Box Office. In an email, Bratton said the big driver for a show is the show title’s familiarity. Bout said the BCT has been able to work faster and more effectively since OvationTix was implemented. “I think for the larger community, the interest is much more in the additional functionality that the system offers,” he said. “Everybody: the presenters and promoters and the patrons.